Sean Cronin, who was shipped off to the Justice Department during an investigation of prosecutorial misconduct, is again handling criminal cases in the U.S. attorney's office in Miami.
Cronin is working in the economic crimes section two years after a federal judge sanctioned him and the office for secretly taping phone conversations between the defense and witnesses in a drug case he was prosecuting.
He was the lead prosecutor in the trial of Dr. Ali Shaygan, a Miami Beach physician charged with illegally dispensing narcotics. During the 2009 trial, a witness said prosecutors tried to set up the defense by recording their conversations.
U.S. District Judge Alan Gold in Miami reprimanded Cronin, co-counsel Andrea Hoffman and their supervisor, Karen Gilbert. The judge also ordered the government to pay Shaygan's $601,000 defense bill.
Then-U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta conceded a mistake was made and issued an apology. The office, though, appealed Gold's order.
Cronin was assigned to Washington to work on cases related to terrorist detainees in Guantanamo, Cuba. He returned to Miami in 2009 to work in the appellate section.
In the meantime, Cronin was arrested in 2010 for allegedly exposing himself when he jumped into a swimming pool wearing only his boxer shorts at Finnegan's River sports bar and pub in downtown Miami. Miami-Dade prosecutors concluded any exposure to a pre-teen girl sitting poolside was unintentional, and no charges were filed.
Cronin's luck changed when the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Gold violated the prosecutors' right to due process. Shaygan's defense attorneys have asked for an en banc review of the reversal.
And now, Cronin is back prosecuting criminal cases.
